On the sales of South Sudan Crude Oil for the month of July 2011 A Press Release by Dr. Lual Achuek Deng
The people of South Sudan were expecting the good news that their government – the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) – has marketed successfully its first entitlement (i.e. 100%) of crude oil produced in the Republic of South Sudan during the period 9 – 31 July 2011. However, such expectations were temporally dampen just 8 days away from the historic date of celebrating the long awaited independence on July 9, 2011, when one of our leaders initiated a fight over the media against one of his comrade in the liberation struggle. The recent statement by the SPLM Secretary General Mr. Pagan Amum, alleging that 48% of revenues accrued from the sales of South Sudan crude oil for the month of July has been given to the National Congress Party (NCP) has created unnecessary confusion among the South Sudanese public. This gratuitous confusion has made it necessary for me to protect my dignity and image and to come clean in a true spirit of transparency, accountability and responsibility, to which I expect comrade Pagan to reciprocate. I wish my younger brother Pagan had chosen a different vehicle to deliberate with civility this critical issue and away from the media. But, I have no choice other than follow the same methodology in explaining myself before God and the people of South Sudan. To begin with, I would like to assure the people of South Sudan that their oil is in safe hands. I have not given a cent to the NCP and its government, let alone a bigger amount of 48% as alleged by Pagan. Moreover, I have neither the mandate to do so nor a family history of treachery and betrayal of South Sudan; unlike many of our today’s neo-nationalists whose brand of nationalism is nothing but tongue in cheek. A backward journey through the history of the liberation struggle would demonstrate beyond doubt the heroic role played by the community that I belong to. It is a community well known for integrity, honesty and courage, so I cannot betray them under any circumstances whatsoever! I would therefore like to present the following facts for the record as well as to the people of South Sudan so that they make an informed judgment as to who is telling them the truth and who is not: 1. This whole saga of South Sudan’s oil sales was set in motion by none other than Pagan when he wrote a letter dated 20 May 2011 (see attachment I) to the NCP, asking them to take off their hands from our oil with effect from July 9th. That move was a nationalistic one, which was well within his right as Secretary General of the SPLM and head of its negotiating team to the talks with the NCP. The letter was further reinforced by Dr. Riek Machar Teny, Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) through his instruction to me to operationalize it as a decision of GOSS. Accordingly, I instructed oil operating companies to comply and provide us with schedules (see attachment II) for lifting, separating the ‘government’ entitlements for July as follows: a) 1 – 8 July 2011 entitlements: to be sold by the Ministry of Petroleum (i.e. Sudanese Petroleum Corporation) but to be shared in accordance with the Wealth Sharing Protocol of the CPA. The lifting program of the Dar Blend shows the government (i.e. GONU) entitlement (2.34 million barrels) to be unusually larger for 8 days in comparison to that of GOSS entitlement (2.6 million barrels) of 23 days. I called on the Petrodar Operating Company (PDOC) Management when I noticed (12 June 2011) this seeming discrepancy to explain the underlying facts. I was informed that the government entitlement for 8 days was 1,396,759 barrels. Add to this figure government stock at Field Processing Facility (FPF) of 397,177 barrels; stock at Central Processing Facility (CPF) of 355,251 barrels; and stock at Marine Terminal (MT) of 256,683 barrels. This makes the total government entitlement to be 2,405,870 barrels, which is to be divided according to the wealth sharing formula stipulated in the CPA: 2% for Upper Nile State and remaining 98% divided equally between GONU and GOSS. The technical team assisting comrade Pagan at the negotiations in Addis Ababa could not comprehend this point and instead they went for a simple calculation of dividing 2,340,000 bbl by 4,940,000 (i.e. 2,340,000 plus 2,600,000) bbl, which resulted in their magical 48% (in fact 47.37% to be exact). However, a good manager/leader of any team should have scrutinized the information deeper before hurriedly accusing a seasoned student of data of betraying his people at the eve of their long awaited independence! In fact, it was through our scrutiny of the lifting program dated June 2, 2011 that my team was able to revise upward from 2.34 million to 2.4 million barrels of government entitlement for1 – 8 July and from 2.6 to 3.2 million barrels for GOSS entitlement during the period 9 – 31 July 2011. b) 9 – 31 July 2011entitlements: to be sold by GOSS in compliance to comrade Pagan’s letter of 20 May 2011 (see attachment I). This is what the GOSS sold through the Marketing Team that was established by Presidential Order number 33 of June 5, 2011 (see attachment III). 2. Those familiar with the international oil industry know how volatile a market it is. Thus, oil is sold at least 45 days ahead of time to enable the buyers mobilize tankers and ensure that oil is lifted at the appointed hour and day. As the SPLM decision did not state how the South Sudan’s crude was to be sold, production companies and clients alike went jittery. As a result, I flew to Juba on June 2, 2011 to be debriefed by President Salva Kiir Mayardit on the impending dangers of not selling and lifting oil at the terminal on time. In appreciation of those facts, the President issued the above mentioned Presidential Decree No 33 on June 5th, 2011 establishing a temporary marketing team to oversee the sales. 3. Assisted by a USAID funded-consultant, the Marketing Team held its first meeting (12 June 2011) in Khartoum in which prospective buyers were identified. Four companies were picked on the basis of their track records in paying and lifting the crude on time. The contracts were just awarded ( see attachments IV and V) but not signed. In fact, they are now being renegotiated in Addis Ababa by Pagan and his team. As mentioned earlier, the Government of South Sudan was to get 100% shares of its oil revenue with effect from July 9th. Thus, it was agreed at the Marketing Team meeting that oil proceeds for the period 9 - 31 July 2011be deposited into the account of the GOSS Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, preferably with a US-based bank, such as Citibank in New York instead of Bank of South Sudan (BoSS). This is because BoSS is still part of the Central Bank of Sudan (CBOS) at the time of sales of the July cargoes. It was also another way of ensuring transparency in the management of our oil revenues as stipulated in the Presidential Order No. 33 of June 5, 2011. With that marketing mechanism, none of the members of the Marketing Team will ever touch or see a cent from the GoSS money in the Citibank in New York. Now, where did I get 48% to give to the NCP? 4. The allegation that the NCP was selling Southern oil was first concocted by brother Garang Diing Akuong, Minister of Energy and Mining (MEM) in the Government of South Sudan. Garang, who was a member of the team, insisted that he attends the meeting with a non-member of the team. When his request was rejected, he walked out of the meeting, flew to Juba and held a press conference the next day, claiming that the NCP was selling oil of the South. In an utterly loathsome mendacity, he presented himself to the Southern public opinion as a hero and defender of their rights! That an elected MP and Minister went around lying about the nature and mandate of a panel appointed by his President is unbelievably beyond any code of decency and decorum. Nevertheless, he succeeded to create enough confusion, leading to the dissolution of the committee on June 15h. In conclusion, I am glad that comrade Pagan’s accusation against me is a blessing in disguise –it has set a sustained discourse for transparency and accountability in our new Republic of South Sudan. Let transparency and accountability therefore be the hallmarks of our first Republic. In line with this new approach of open discourse of public policy, I am ready to be questioned on this matter not only by the Parliament but also by the media or indeed any audit or party panels. In the same spirit, I expect the Secretary General to come clean on the following issues: a) $30 million of the SPLM entitlement during the pre-Interim Period, which was transferred to a US-based corporation in 2008 or there about by the GOSS Ministry Finance and Economic Planning under the instruction of the SPLM Secretariat. Where is that money and in whose name has it been deposited? b) How much has been paid to the contractor that started in 2006 building the SPLM Headquarters in Juba. That building has remained to this day a skeleton. Who is accountable within the Secretariat to the delay in the completion of the building? c) I am interested to know how the Network of the World (NOW) was sold to Vivacell Telecom Company. This is because NOW was acquired through resources that were meant for the technical team, which prepared the SPLM Strategic Framework for War-to-Peace Transition. The team gave up these resources to enable the SPLM to embark on investment programs. Long live the people of South Sudan under the able leadership of President Salva Kiir Mayardit whose leadership is guided by the spirit of our fallen hero and leader the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior. Released by Lual Acuek Lual Deng, PhD 2nd July 2011, Juba, South Sudan COMMENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
